My favorite Edinburgh moments

We did quite a few fun things in Edinburgh, but here area few of my favorites:

1) Saturday morning, everyone went to Edinburgh castle except me. I took the morning to go antique shopping in the part of the city called "Stockbridge." I went to five or six amazing antique shops and browed around, blissed out on all of the great vintage finds. My favorite was a place called "Unicorn Antiques." Unicorn is a two-story shop in a residential block. It's essentially like someone decided to turn their house into an antique store. Every inch of space in all of the rooms was crammed full of stuff. The basement was four huge dark rooms, winding around in a little maze, again stuffed with antiques. It was like stumbling around the basement of an 90-year-old relative that's lived in the same house all her life. In a good way.

2) Saturday night, Jim, Jo, and Frankie turned in early. Matt and I went out on a mini pub crawl down nearby Rose Street. We had a few pints, and befriended some locals. They were amazed by Matt, swearing that he looks exactly like... wait for it..... Quentin Tarintino.

Despite the less-than-flattering comparison, it was lots of fun. It felt like we were on a proper date.

3) Sunday afternoon we all took a hike to the tallest point in Edinburgh: Scotland's National Monument. It was quite a haul up the hillside, but totally worth it. The view was spectacular. See for yourself:

That tiny blue speck in the left corner is Frankie.

The tiny red speck on the horizon is Jo. Jim, Frankie, and Matt somehow shimmied on top of the monument. You can see them center right if you look really carefully.

Jump, daddy!

It was honsetly one of the most beautiful views that I've ever seen. Really lovely. And there were hardly any people up there as well, which made it feel even more special.

When we were up near the monument, Frankie suddenly decided that she loved the camera. She had been running away from pictures the whole trip, but in that moment she totally channeled Tyra Banks and insited that I take about a million pictures of her "poses." She made me, and  group of nearby Japanese teenagers, laugh out loud. However, she took the poses very seriously. Here are a few from the series:

Fierce!